Nebraska MBB: Huskers Head to Grand Island For Battle at the BigIron vs. K-State
The Nebraska men's basketball team wraps up exhibition play next Monday, Oct. 26, as the Huskers travel to Grand Island to face longtime rival Kansas State at the Battle at the BigIron. Tipoff from the BigIron Events Center is set for 6:31 p.m. and a sellout crowd of over 6,000 is expected. The game will be televised statewide on Nebraska Public Media and streamed online at B1G+ (subscription required). The radio broadcast is available on Husker Sports Network affiliates across the state, as well as on Huskers.com and on the Huskers app.
Nebraska looks to bounce back from a 72-61 loss at BYU on Oct. 15, a game that was a four-point game with 1:40 remaining before the Cougars closed the game with a 7-0 run to pull away. Fifth-year guard Cale Jacobsen led the Huskers with 15 points while freshman Jacob Lanier added 11 points, including 3-of-6 from 3-point range. Even without Sam Orme, who missed the game because of an injury. NU went deep into its bench as 10 of the 11 players who saw action played for at least 11 minutes.
Lanier has been impressive coming off the bench, averaging a team-high 13.0 ppg on 50 percent shooting, including 63 percent from 3-point range. Jacobsen, who has started the first two exhibition games, is at 12.5 ppg on 50 percent shooting and 4.5 rebounds per game after averaging 4.6 points per game.
Nebraska will face a Kansas State team that has just one player - sophomore guard Andrej Kostic - back for new coach Casey Alexander. The Wildcats opened exhibition play with a 71-67 loss to Missouri Friday night. Jaden Schutt and Montana Wheeler had 12 points apiece for KSU in the loss.
Teaming Up for a Cause
In addition to the NPM/B1G+ and Huskers Radio Network broadcasts, the Nebraska and Kansas State student radio stations will team up to honor the legacy of Greg Sharpe, who called games at both schools during his broadcasting career.
Sharpe, who was voice of the Wildcats from 1996 to 2002 before coming to Lincoln. Sharpe did play-by-play for Husker men's basketball on Fox Sports Net before taking over the duties in the football booth from 2007 until his death in 2025. The KRNU broadcast will feature Harmon Johnsen, a senior at UNL, and Nate Lowen, a senior at KSU teaming up on the call. To listen to the call, visit krnu.unl.edu
After his death, his wife, Amy, and brothers Douglas and Michael, established the Greg Sharpe Sports Broadcasting Scholarship Fund at both the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications and the A.Q. Miller School of Media and Communication at the Kansas State University. Once funded, the scholarships will go to a sports broadcasting student at each institution. For more information on the Greg Sharpe Sports Broadcasting Scholarship for each institution, visit www.nfund.org and www.ksufoundation.org.
Nebraska At a Glance
The 2026-27 Huskers bring back seven returnees from a team that won a school-record 28 games last season, including two of its top three scorers in Pryce Sandfort and Braden Frager. NU adds eight newcomers with six Division I transfers and two highly-touted freshmen to the mix.
Sandfort comes off one of the best seasons in school history, as the 6-foot-7 wing averaged 18.1 points per game, including a school-record 129 3-pointers, en route to earning first-team All-Big Ten honors. Earlier this week, Sandfort was named to the 10-man preseason All-Big Ten team as one of two unanimous selections (MSU's Jeremy Fears Jr.). Sandfort comes off a strong NCAA Tournament run when he averaged 21.0 points per game on 57 percent shooting. Frager was NU's sixth man last year as a redshirt freshman and averaged 11.8 points on 49 percent shooting and 3.8 rebounds per game. He was named Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year and totaled 20 double-figure efforts, including six games of 20 or more points.
Fifth-year seniors Cale Jacobsen and Connor Essegian and sophomore Leo Curtis all saw time last year and will look for extended roles. Jacobsen played in all 35 games last year, averaging 4.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, highlighted by a 15-point, eight-rebound performance in the regular-season finale at Iowa. Essegian, whose 2025-26 season ended after seven games because of an ankle injury, looks to regain his 2024-25 form when he averaged 10.7 ppg off the bench and led the Huskers with 78 3-pointers. Curtis played in 17 games off the bench, including NU's two NCAA Tournament wins and the 7-foot-2 sophomore will challenge for extended minutes.
Nebraska Exhibition History
Nebraska is 66-9 all-time in exhibition games dating back to the 1966-67 season and has won 35 of 39 exhibition games dating back to 2001.
• A rule change prior to the 2025-26 season last year allowed teams to have exhibition games against Division I programs. Previously, they were only allowed as charity exhibitions. Beginning with the 2026-27 season, schools are now allowed to schedule three exhibition games.
• NU played three charity exhibition games since 2017, including a trip to Mississippi State in 2017-18 and a two-game series against Colorado in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Scouting Kansas State
Nebraska will see a vastly different team under first-year coach Casey Alexander, who spent the last seven seasons at Belmont before taking the Wildcat job in March. Last year, Belmont went 26-6 and won the Missouri Valley title with a 16-4 mark before being upset in the MVC Tournament.
Alexander won 20+ games in each of his seven seasons at the school, winning Ohio Valley Conference titles in 2019-20 and 2020-21 and the Missouri Valley Conference title in 2025-26. He is one of 4 coaches to win 20 or more games in 10 consecutive seasons, joining Gonzaga’s Mark Few, Houston’s Kelvin Sampson and Kansas’ Bill Self. Before taking the Belmont job, he coached at Lipscomb for six seasons (2013-14 to 2018-19) and won a pair of Atlantic Sun titles in his tenure.
The only returnee back at Kansas State is Andrej Kostic, who averaged 5.2 points and 1.7 rebounds per game in 23 contests. The Wildcat roster features 13 newcomers, including 10 Division I transfers. Nebraska has faced a pair of the newcomers at their previous schools (JT Rock, New Mexico) and Dez Lindsay (Oregon).
Series History: Kansas State leads the all-time series, 129-95, but Nebraska has won the last two meetings, a matchup in Manhattan in 2023 and last year's win in the Hall of Fame Classic. Since Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011-12, the teams have played four times, a three-game series from 2021-22 to 2023-24 seasons and last year's meeting in Kansas City.
• The Huskers are 484-576 all-time against the current members of the Big 12. NU does not have a Big 12 team on its 2026-27 regular-season schedule.
• Nebraska has won its last four regular-season games against Big 12 teams dating back to Nebraska's win at Kansas State in 2023.
Huskers Tabbed for Fifth in Big Ten Media Preseason Poll
While the Big Ten does not do an official preseason poll, the Big Ten Preseason Media Poll organized by Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch takes votes from 28 beat writers from around the Big Ten footprint.
The Huskers were picked to finish fifth in the poll, trailing Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan and UCLA. Pryce Sandfort was tabbed as a first-team honoree by the media. The fifth-place pick was NU's highest NU has placed in the preseason poll since being voted fourth in 2019. Last year, NU was tabbed 14th by the conference media before finishing in a three-way tie for second place.
Poll Watching
Nebraska saw its school-record 15 week run in the Associated Press poll end on Oct. 19, as the Huskers were the second team outside the top 25 in the preseason poll. Nebraska received a total of 70 points in the voting by media, just behind Missouri as the first teams outside the poll.
The good news is that Nebraska will have plenty of opportunities against ranked teams this season. NU has 10 of its 2026-27 opponents either in the preseason poll or receiving votes. Six Big Ten team were ranked in either the AP or Coaches polls, including Illinois (No. 3/3), Michigan State (6/6), Michigan (16/20), USC (21/22) and UCLA (22/RV) and Purdue (RV/24) while six other Big Ten teams - Nebraska, Purdue, Ohio State, Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin received votes in either poll. Of the five ranked teams in the AP poll, NU hosts four of them at PBA this season.
Sandfort Named to Preseason All-Big Ten Team
Nebraska senior Pryce Sandfort was honored on Oct. 5, as the Big Ten Conference announced its preseason All-Big Ten team. Sandfort, a 6-foot-7 wing from Waukee, Iowa, was one of 10 players selected by a vote of media that cover Big Ten basketball. Sandfort was one of two unanimous selections, joining Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr., who was tabbed as the preseason player of the year. Sandfort becomes just the fourth Husker to be named preseason All-Big Ten since Nebraska joined the conference in 2011-12, joining James Palmer Jr. (2018), Terran Petteway (2014) and Keisei Tominaga (2023).
The preseason accolades continue to rack up for Sandfort, as he was a third-team preseason All-American by Blue Ribbon Magazine and ESPN's Jay Bilis. He was also ranked among the top 25 players in college basketball by both CBS Sports (No. 18) and The Athletic (No. 21). Sandfort also received votes for the AP Preseason All-America team.
He comes off a junior season where he earned first-team All-Big Ten honors, averaging 18.1 points per game on nearly 48 percent shooting and 4.9 rebounds per game. He ranked fourth nationally in 3-pointers per game (3.7) while shooting 41.6 percent from beyond the arc, as his 129 3-pointers broke NU’s single-season record and was the second-highest total in Big Ten history. Sandfort totaled 15 games of at least 20 points, including a trio of 30-point outbursts, all coming in Big Ten action. He capped his first season as a Husker by leading NU to the Sweet 16, averaging 21.0 points per game on 57 percent shooting, including 25 points in the Sweet 16 matchup with Iowa.
Leonhardt Takes the Point
One newcomer who looks to flourish in the Huskers' system is fifth-year guard Trevan Leonhardt. The Utah Valley transfer was a stat-stuffer in NU's game against BYU, finishing with six assists, five rebounds and a game-high three steals in 26 minutes.
Leonhardt was one of the top point guards in the transfer portal after earning first-team All-WAC honors at Utah Valley. He started all 34 games, averaging 11.9 points per game along with 6.0 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game. The 6-foot-6 guard was the only player nationally to rank in the top 25 in both assists (23rd) & steals (18th) per game. He led the WAC in assist-to-turnover ratio in each of the past two seasons, ranking fifth nationally in that category in 2024-25. He looks to become the third guard under Head Coach Fred Hoiberg to rank in the top-10 nationally in that category, as Sam Hoiberg set NU's school record with a 3.74-to-1 ratio last season.
In addition to Leonhardt, NU also added San Diego State transfer Taj Degourville, who ranked among the Mountain West Conference leaders in both assists (3.0, 12th) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.0-to-1, seventh) last season.
• Last year, Nebraska ranked sixth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.86-to-1), the third time a Fred Hoiberg-coached team ranked in the top-10 nationally (2014-15, 8th; 2013-14, 2nd) in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Sandfort Is Huskers Shooting Star
Pryce Sandfort put together one of the most prolific shooting seasons in Big Ten history in 2025-26. The 6-foot-7 wing led the Big Ten in 3-pointers made (129) and 3-pointers per game (3.7) while ranking third in 3-point percentage (.416). He finished the season third nationally in 3-pointers (129), fourth in 3-pointers per game (3.7) and 24th in 3-point percentage.
• Sandfort’s 129 3-pointers shattered Nebraska’s previous record of 89 set by Cary Cochran in 2002 and was the most by a Big Ten player since Purdue’s Carsen Edwards had 135 in 2018-19.
• To put Sandfort’s Big Ten season in perspective, his 79 3-pointers in conference play would have ranked sixth on NU’s single-season chart.
• According to Stathead, Sandfort is one of only five players in Big Ten history to shoot 40 percent from 3-point range and have at least 115 3-pointers in a season and the first since Penn State’s Shep Garner in 2017-18.
Frager Looks to Expand Role
After serving as NU's sixth man last year, Braden Frager looks to enjoy a breakout season in 2026-27 as he moves into the lineup. Frager is in his third year in the program after reclassifying prior to his senior year in high school. He is ranked No. 97 on the CBS Sports Top 101 Players in the country.
• Last season, he became the first Husker basketball player to win a Big Ten individual conference season award, as he was chosen as the Big Ten’s Sixth Man of the Year. The Lincoln Southwest product averaged 11.8 points per game on 49 percent shooting and 3.8 rebounds per game in 33 contests.
• Frager topped all Big Ten reserves in scoring and had 18 of his 20 double-figure efforts off the bench, including six games of at least 20 points.
• He finished among the program’s top freshmen in several categories, including 3-pointers (57, second), points (391, fourth), scoring average (fifth) and field goals (134, fifth) on his way to earning a spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
• His six 20-point efforts off the bench tied for sixth nationally. Frager trailed only AJ Storr of Ole Miss (8) for the most among power conference players.
• Frager was NU’s second-leading scorer during the NCAA Tournament, averaging 14.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game off the bench. He provided the game-winner in NU’s 74-72 win over No. 16 Vanderbilt with his basket with 2.2 seconds remaining and had 16 points, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range, in the Sweet 16 loss to Iowa.
Jacobsen Looks for Fifth-Year Jump
Cale Jacobsen returns for his fifth year and is poised to experience a jump like what Sam Hoiberg had in 2025-26. Jacobsen, who originally walked on, played in every game last year, averaging 4.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game in helping NU make the Sweet 16.
• This season, Jacobsen has started both exhibition games in place of Sam Orme and is averaging 12.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
• Jacobsen moved into the rotation during the 2025 College Basketball Crown and has helped NU go 32-7 in that span.
• During his career, Nebraska is 35-7 when Jacobsen played at least 10 minutes per game.